First post of 2024

 Welcome to 2024. We wish all our lovely readers a Happy and Prosperous New Year.

Our first week of the New Year has been quite eventful, by our standards. Monday dawned following heavy overnight rain. The river was running high, fast and with large pieces of debris, so sailing was cancelled. I did some shopping and some pottering outside as the weather improved. Some friends from Auckland (Paul, Jason and Lee) were in town so I invited them over for the afternoon. We had a good natter and dinner at the Rutland Arms which was very good.

Tuesday was a lovely clear day sunny day for driving up to Ohakune to collect Nicky. I arrived late morning and after a cuppa and a bit of time helping Shani with a jigsaw, Nicky and I walked into Ohakune to find somewhere for lunch. This proved to be more of a challenge than I expected as most places were closed, probably because of it being a public holiday. We eventually found an Asian restaurant which also did pizza, which turned out to be good. The steamed vegetables with a dip which we had as a side, were greatly enjoyed. After lunch we walked up to the café at the Ohakune railway station for a post-lunch cuppa, enjoying the view of the mountain on the way:

Other members of the family waved to us as they drove to the same café, and some were still there when we arrived. On the way back we used a different route - a gravel path by the river. Nicky had to jump out of the way of a cyclist and cut her foot on a stone in the process. This resulted in an uncomfortable walk until first aid could be administered. Dinner of leftovers with the family was good, and we headed for home early in the evening.

Nicky had a 9am blood test appointment on Wednesday morning, but had not got to sleep until after 5am, so I took the 7.25am bus into town to get to the wharf so that she could have the car. Our sailing was due to have a one and a half hour stopover at Upokongaro so that the passengers could explore the village, visit the café and avail themselves of the two food concessions which Jen the manager had organised. Unfortunately we were discovered that we we not going to be able to disembark passengers at the Upokongaro wharf because the passenger ramp hadn’t been returned from being repaired. The concessions came to our wharf instead, and we delayed our departure so that their food orders could be fulfilled.

Nicky and I had a quiet afternoon before going to Stella*r Bar for dinner with the quiz team. We had won enough vouchers quizzing for all of us to have dinner, and it was a good evening.

I haven’t sailed since then. Kevyn, our newly qualified skipper had tendered his resignation two weeks earlier, and due to issues which had come up during that period he didn’t withdraw it. It came into effect on Thursday. Without a skipper we can’t sail, and Jen has been unable to book a temporary one to cover. We are having a staff meeting at work tomorrow morning.

I had some time in the garden and Nicky (still very tired) sorted the seeds which Jenny had given her in Ohakune. The strimmer/line trimmer died so we took it to Mitre 10 for repair on Thursday. It was replaced straight away (this in now my fourth since buying the first one in December 2021). I think I need something which is a bit more heavy duty. 

While we were in Mitre 10 be bought a lovely pot for the Peace Lily, which is now living in the shower:

Our evening was taken up with watching the UK TV mini series Breathtaking, about the impact of Covid of the lives of medical staff in the UK. It was very well done and painted a picture just as harrowing as we had imagined.

We have had a couple of FaceTime chats with Jancis, to catch up on how she is and provide some technology assistance. Life is very challenging for her at the moment and we hope that her appointment at the pain clinic has a positive outcome.

The sunny weather with a cool breeze has continued into the weekend (though we had some fog for a little while this morning). Nicky did the household washing yesterday while I pottered in the garden (continuing my weeding apprenticeship) and having an amble. We went next door but one for wine and nibbles with Mark and Elaine late afternoon. We had a lovely and relaxing chat, and decided that wouldn’t it be a good idea if we got together and bought Jacqui’s section and put a tiny house on it which we run as an AirBnB. All we need is for one of the for of us to win on the lottery. However, I don’t think any of us buy tickets at the moment!

The Christmas decorations came down this morning, and the tree was returned to its spot near the water softener. Nicky enjoyed church and had an unusual experience - no children, either in the congregation or taking the service. Afterwards she came home and picked me up for a parishioners shared lunch at Jill and Tim’s up on St John’s Hill, which we both enjoyed.

Mark and Krystyna from up the road, are coming over for dinner this evening. As I write, Nicky is preparing lemon curd roast chicken and lemon potato wedges (recipe supplied by Maria). The Kentucky Derby Pie which I made this morning is in the oven and smelling good. Hats off to our Louisville cousins again!

Take care, Nicky and Rick

PS: dinner turned out very well and we have had a lovely evening.